Digital Lifescapes

As smartphone use grows around the globe, the demand for creative new mobile software application innovation will explode. Mobile Internet access is crucial in modern app functionality. Naturally, with faster broadband connection speeds, a richer mobile experience is available, with the possibility to leverage a cloud-based software app backend system. Juniper Research predicts that increasing contextual awareness in mobile apps -- as seen in digital assistants such as "Google Now" -- will transform the process of app discovery and thereby limit future use of the cluttered app tray. In addition, Google recently opened its deep linking API to allow apps to be indexed in a similar way to web pages, further accelerating the movement towards the Android platform. According to the latest market study findings by Juniper Research, they now forecast that the number of smartphone and tablet apps in use, that leverage contextual or location data on devices, will near 7.5 billion...

BIA/Kelsey forecasts U.S. social media advertising revenues will reach $9.2 billion in 2016 -- that's up from $4.6 billion in 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.2 percent. According to the finding from their fall update, the local segment of U.S. social media advertising revenues will grow from $1.1 billion in 2012 to $3 billion in 2016 (CAGR: 28 percent). "The year 2012 can be viewed as social advertising’s coming of age," said Jed Williams, program director, social local media at BIA/Kelsey . The continued development of native ads, such as Facebook Sponsored Stories and Twitter Promoted Tweets, and the acceleration of mobile monetization will be the primary drivers of social advertising growth through 2016. BIA/Kelsey defines social media advertising as money spent on advertising formats across social networks. Social display advertising will continue to account for a higher percentage of revenues, due in large part to Facebook’s Ma...

Did you know that there's a mobile applications (apps) ecosystem in China? Were you aware that the total mobile application downloads for both smartphones and feature phones in China will reach 5.5 billion next year. This is an emerging market opportunity with immense potential. "As the app market in the West gets crowded, content providers and developers are eyeing new markets, such as China, which has the world's largest subscriber base," says Dan Shey, practice director at ABI Research . The ongoing expansion of China's 3G mobile service subscriptions -- which are expected to jump from 102 million in 2011 to 540 million in 2016 -- are driving app download growth. "Feature phones are an important market for app developers, maintaining a large share of the app store user base over the next few years," says ABI research analyst Fei-Feng Seet. "Regardless of device type, successful apps in the Chinese market are those with a local look an...

Americans are expected to hold back on their winter holiday shopping spend this year, because of rising prices for basic commodities such as food and utility services -- as well as their concerns about the overall economy. In fact, several pre-holiday surveys have already confirmed that shoppers intend to spend either the same or less on purchases during the 2011 holiday season, when compared to last year. That being said, the convenience and anticipated cost-savings from online shopping will likely bring more people on the web for the holidays -- spending a greater share of their gift budget with a variety of online retailers. eMarketer estimates that U.S. retail ecommerce holiday-season sales, which include all retail ecommerce sales during November and December, will rise by 16.8 percent this year to $46.7 billion. "This marks three years of strong online holiday sales and demonstrates the web’s ability to help consumers achieve their holiday gift buying goals i...

Voice over IP (VoIP) now has over 120 million subscribers worldwide, and its growth looks set to accelerate as predictions indicate a $40 billion annual VoIP market by 2015, according to the latest market study by Point Topic . Point Topic's data revealed a global growth in VoIP of 12.6 percent during 2010 and shows that there is plenty of headroom left for VoIP around the world. "The growth of VoIP has been bumpy but shows signs of acceleration," said John Bosnell, senior analyst at Point Topic. "VoIP has all the hallmarks of a classic substitution commodity." Referring to the above, for example, consumers are switching from the standard telephone system to an end-to-end IP service that provides voice services at a very attractive cost and adds other usage possibilities. "France has been something of a test-bed for VoIP. Driven by an active supplier base that has made VoIP available to a large percentage of the population over the last decade, the ...

The market opportunity for mobile marketing and advertising is growing steadily, and spending on the new content distribution channel is growing in parallel. One six-month period in 2010 saw spending expand in the U.S. by almost 2.5 percent. A new ABI Research market study forecasts that in 2016, revenue from mobile display ads will reach close to $1.5 billion. ABI Practice director Neil Strother says, "Although the market for mobile advertising and marketing is starting from a very small base, it is showing steady, solid growth. The recent survey conducted by ABI Research revealed that about one third of the smartphone owners polled had clicked on at least one mobile advertisement. Overall spending on mobile ad media has accelerated with the arrival of the autumn back-to-school and end-of-year holiday seasons, and is expected to approach $1 billion by year's end. Before 2010 this industry was seen as quite experimental, but, says Strother, "There was a shift s...

Location-based retailer advertising is evolving. However, according to the latest market study by ABI Research , businesses are now being primed to spend $1.8 billion on this emerging category by 2015 -- as part of overall mobile marketing budgets. "It's still early days and there's no single right approach to location-based advertising," says ABI practice director, Neil Strother. "This remains a very fragmented market that is full of experimentation." Nonetheless, the options are becoming more clearly defined. Location-based ads are enabled by three sets of technologies -- GPS, Wi-Fi, and mobile phone network Cell-ID. According to ABI's assessment, the most successful campaigns use a mix of some or all of these technologies -- depending on the product or service, the region, the consumers, and the location accuracy required. New location-based services are catering to mobile shoppers. Some are check-in services, such as Loopt, Gowalla, Foursqua...

eMarketer reports that beginning this year, Piper Jaffray anticipates that local online advertising spending will outpace the national spend within the U.S. marketplace. In 2008, national and local ad spending levels were equal. But while the research firm projects a drop in national online ad spending for 2009, local is expected to increase by 5 percent. Over the next five years, Piper Jaffray predicts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9 percent for local online ad dollars, compared with 4 percent for national Internet spending. Borrell Associates, on the other hand, forecasts only a 2.9 percent CAGR for local online ad spending over the next five years. Borrell puts spending at $16.4 billion in 2013, compared with $19.18 billion for Piper Jaffray. While Borrell believes the local online ad market is approaching saturation, Piper Jaffray indicates in its report that small businesses will begin to catch up with consumers online, bringing significant growth to the local online se...